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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Fun facts about Running

It is off to work for me today after a nice four day weekend. The kids are back in swimming lessons this week so it will be a busy week between work and driving back and forth into town for swim lessons. Tomorrow will be my first run since the half marathon Saturday. I am feeling so ready to run. I should have got my butt out of bed a little earlier and gone this morning, but I think one more day of rest won't hurt either. I can feel the call of the open road though and it makes my legs feel itchy to get moving.

You know you want to run!

I found these fun facts at lululemon, thought you all might like to read them too!

Fun Running Facts...Did you know!?!

Physically active people have a 60 percent lower risk for Alzheimer's disease than coach potatoes (The Lancet Neurology - Sweden)

Athletes dressed in red are more likely to win events than athletes wearing another color. (Nature)

There are 26 combined bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles in the human foot (Nike Ad)

In terms of on-site media coverage, the Boston Marathon ranks behind only the Super Bowl as the largest single day sporting event in the world. More than 1,100 media members, representing more than 250 outlets, are expected to request and receive media credentials in 2006. (Boston Athletic Association)

An average man has enough energy in his fat stores to run non-stop for 3 days at 15 miles per hour. (bbc.co.uk)

12 of the world's top-20 distance runners are members of the Kalenjin tribe of northwest Kenya. (bbc.co.uk)

Runners report average yearly injury rates from 24% to 68%, of which 2% to 11% involve the hip or pelvis - (van Mechelen, W. in "Running injuries: a review of the epidemiological literature")

13.2 to 17.3 percent of all running injuries have been attributed to shin splints (American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons)

The risk of having a heart attack during a marathon is one in 55,000. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology)

Runners who played ball sports (ie football) as kids had nearly 50 percent fewer stress fractures than runner who didn't. Stanford University researchers found that runners who played ball aports had "greater and more symmetrically distributed bone mass." (Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine)

21 comments:

Interesting fact about the Boston marathon - yet it gets very little press here. Not televised live in most places and very little mention usually on espn etc. Probably got more attention this year because of the fast times.

Also surprised about the ball sports. Thinking about it now, it totally makes sense. The Rapid change of direction must help. Whereas running there is usually no fast changes.

I try to use the elliptical the day after a half or full, or wait one day. If I'm sore I definitely use the ellip within a day because it helps me feel much better fast!

I love where you run. Peaceful, beautiful clean air. Gosh you are so lucky! :)

Interesting tips! The one about an average man being able to run for that long is really random... I'll have to tell my husband about that!

As for rest time post-race, it depends on what I have coming up next. For instance, my last half marathon was Detroit last October. I knew I didn't have another big race until May of this year, so I took off a long time - almost a month! I lost a lot of my fitness ability, but if I don't take some time off, I get too burned out!

That picture made me totally want to run, even though I'm home with a nasty UTI so I had to postpone my first recovery run after Sunday's half until tomorrow morning...or maybe tonight if I get a good nap :^).